Track-joint.



H. 11. ANDERSON.

TRACK JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 91, 1910.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

2 SHEETS-511E311.

HOUSTON R. ANDERSON, OF CHAT'IANOOGA, OKLAHOMA.

TRACK-JOINT.

Specification of letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Application filed February 21, 1910. Serial No. 545,117.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOUSTON R. ANDER- soN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chattanooga, in the county of Comanche, State ofOklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Track-Joints; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to rail joints and its principal object is toprovide a rail joint of novel construction wherein a single fishplate isused to securely hold the two ends of a rail in position and strengthenand support said ends between the ties, said plate thus acting as aspecies of chair.

With the above and other objects in view, as will be hereinafterapparent, the invention consists in general of a novel construction offish-plate and chair designed to connect and support the abutting endsof a pair of rails.

The invention further consists in certain novel details of constructionand combinations of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, and specifically set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, like charactors of reference indicate likeparts in the several views, and :--Figure 1 is a perspective view of theimproved chair showing one rail in position on the plate. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of such a fish-plate. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section on the line t4 of Fig. 3.

The numeral 10 indicates the base of the chair and this base is ofsuflicient length to bridge two adjacent ties of the track. At each ofthe longitudinal edges of the base 10 there is provided an upstandingflange 11 and the distance between these flanges is such that the footof a rail will closely fit within the space thus provided. Extending upfrom the base 10 and formed integrally therewith are looking members 12each having an end 13 which extends longitudinally in spaced relation tothe base 10, the body and end of these members being at right angles toeach other. These ends 13 thus overhang the base and the under sideextends substantially parallel to said base while the depth of the ends13 is such that when the rail is in position the ends completely fillthe space between the head and the members 12 and their ends 13 are arranged in pairs with the ends extending in the same direction, and themembers 13 and their ends are spaced, in each pair, at such distance asto closely engage the web of the rail.

The rail end is preferably thickened in the foot so that the top andbottom surfaces of the foot are parallel. The end of the rail is hereindicated at 14 while the thickened portion of the foot is shown at 15.On each side of the rail web 16 there is formed a slot 17 which extendsthrough the foot of the rail and is of a length equal or slightlygreater than that of one of the members 12 and its end 13. This slot isalso substantially equal in width to the thickness of one of thesemembers.

In assembling the device the ends of the rail are brought together inthe usual manner and the chair moved up from beneath the ends in suchmanner that the members 12 pass through the slots 17 The chair is thenmoved longitudinally of the rails so that the feet 15 of these railsengage beneath the overhanging ends 13. As an alternative method ofassembling the rails may be placed one after the other on the chair andmoved so as to bring their feet beneath the ends 13. It is to be notedthat one pair of the members 12 have their ends 13 so arranged withrelation to the slots 17 that the ends 13 of this pair project beyondthe rail end, this being clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. The purposeof this is vto provide against lateral displacement of the extremitiesof the rails with reference to each other as well as to prevent verticaldisplacement of said rails.

In order to hold theparts in position after assembling, the rails areprovided with spike receiving notches 18 at their edges while the chairis in like manner provided with spike receiving openings 19 adapted toregister with the notches when the rails and chair are assembled. Afterthe assembling operation above described, spikes are driven throughthese openings and notches and serve to prevent longitudinaldisplacement of the chair with reference to the rails as well as to holdthe rails in position on the ties.

There has thus been provided a simple and eificient device of the kinddescribed and for the purpose specified.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed as new,is:

1. In a rail joint, the combination With a pair of abutting rail endseach having a pair of slots extending through its foot, said slot-slying one on each side of and adjacent to the Web ofeach rail end andterminating opposite each other, said rail ends each having spikenotches at the edges; of a chair having a base portion provided withupstanding flanges to engage against the longitudinal edges of the railfeet, upstanding members formed on said base and extending through saidnotches, said members being arranged in pairs, ends formed on saidmembers and all extending in the same direction, said ends being of suchdepth as to fill the spaces between the heads and feet of said rails,one pair of said ends overlapping one rail end and engaging the other,and said chair having spike openings in its base registering with saidspike notches.

2. In arail joint, the combination with a pair of abutting rail endseach having a, slot on each side of its Web; of a chair having a baseportion provided with flanges extending along the sides to embrace thefeet of said rail ends, upstanding members formed on said base andextending through said slots, ends formed on said members engagingbetween the heads and feet of the rails, and means to preventlongitudinaldisplacement of said chair on said rails.

3. A chair for rail joints comprising a. base portion provided Withupstanding flanges extending along the side edges, spaced pairs ofupstanding members formed on said base, the members of each pair beingspaced apart a suflicient distance to re ceive the Web of a rail betweentheir inner faces, extensions formed on said members and allextending'in the'same direction, said extensions being spaced from thebase and parallel thereto, and said chair having spike openings throughthe base in immediate juxtaposition to the upstanding flanges.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in the presence of tWoWitnesses.-

HOUSTON R. ANDERSON.

Witnesses G. E. PARKHILL, G. E. VVHITEHEAD.

